Tory row as Scottish leader suggests pact with Labour to oust SNP

Douglas Ross says unionist parties must ‘look beyond narrow party agenda’ in tactical voting plea

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross (PA)

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has sparked a major Tory row after he suggested Tory voters should vote Labour at the next election if their candidate is best placed to beat the SNP.

Douglas Ross risked a rift with Rishi Sunak as he said Scottish voters should “do what’s best for the country” to help “loosen” the nationalists’ grip on power north of the border.

A Tory spokesperson in Westminster fired back by insisting that tactical voting was “emphatically not the view of the Conservative Party” and that voters should support the Tories “wherever they are standing”.